Recently, there has been increasing scrutiny of weather apps and the data that they collect. There have been public outcries after investigations and research have revealed mobile apps are tracking the locations of their users even when they say no to sharing the location data.

In Los Angeles, City Attorney Mike Feuer filed suit in early January against TWC Product and Technology, the maker of the Weather Channel mobile app. He accused the app of “covertly mining the private data of users and selling the information to third parties, including advertisers.”

The complaint alleges that TWC used the geolocation tracking technology present in the app to monitor where users live, work, and visit, twenty-four hours a day, as well as how much time users spend at each location. The complaint further alleges that TWC led its users to believe that their location data would only be used to provide them with “personalized local weather data, alerts and forecasts.” Instead, TWC allegedly sends this information to affiliates of its parent company, IBM, and other third parties for advertising and other commercial purposes entirely unrelated to the weather.

The lawsuit alleged that TWC buried the location-tracking information in its privacy policy. It seeks an injunction “prohibiting TWC from continuing to engage in allegedly unfair and fraudulent business activities, including deceptively collecting and selling personal data, as well as Civil Penalties up to $2,500 for each violation.”

IBM’s initial response was to tell the New York Timesthat TWC “has always been transparent with use of location data; the disclosures are fully appropriate, and we will defend them vigorously.”

International Data Privacy Day is Monday, January 28. There are a variety of events occurring to celebrate. Visit the official site to find events near your area, such as a symposium on data privacy at Rice University. Take the time to think about how privacy is important in your life and how you can protect your rights. Please also donate to any number of organizations out there trying to protect your privacy rights.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act became law in October 1998, and the Federal Trade Commission promulgated its rule concerning the law in the next couple of years. It has been 20 years of ups and downs for privacy protection for children’s data. There continue to be numerous privacy challenges for parents seeking to safeguard their children’s personal information.

As soon as they are born and are issued identification numbers, children face the risk of identity theft. Such thefts can be undetected for years, until a young adult has reason to use her Social Security Number for a loan or credit card. We have schools tracking children (and college students) with camera surveillance systems or RFID-enabled school uniforms or ID cards. Some schools started using biometric ID systems for students to pay for their lunches. There are concerns about tracking apps such as ClassDojo, which can be used by teachers and parents to monitor students’ progress.

The FTC marked the 20th anniversary by noting it has made changes to its Rule over the years: “by amending the Rule to address innovations that affect children’s privacy – social networking, online access via smartphone, and the availability of geolocation information, to name just a few. After hosting a national workshop and considering public comments, we announced changes to the Rule in 2013 that expanded the types of COPPA-covered information to include photos, video, or audio files that contain a child’s image or voice.” Read more »

As people increasingly use personal fitness devices, such as Fitbits, or health-tracking apps, such as Strava, there has been increasing concern about individual medical privacy as the data is gathered and used, sometimes for purposes of which runners or cyclists were unaware. People have questioned where this data collection could lead.

Recently, U.S. life insurance giant John Hancock announced one path for fitness tracking: To cut life insurance rates. Beginning next year, John Hancock, in partnership with Vitality Group, “will stop underwriting traditional life insurance and instead sell only interactive policies that track fitness and health data through wearable devices and smartphones,” Reuters reported. “Policyholders score premium discounts for hitting exercise targets tracked on wearable devices such as a Fitbit or Apple Watch and get gift cards for retail stores and other perks by logging their workouts and healthy food purchases in an app.”

Currently, John Hancock’s program is voluntary and there are numerous other life insurance companies that offer traditional policies, which do not involve constantly tracking individuals’ health and fitness information through wearable devices. But how soon will this change, to where more and more people are pressured to give up such personal data, such daily information, in order to have policies to protect their families? Read more »